A regional newspaper publisher has sold its online bereavement platform to a former rival announcement site.

A&N Media, which Northcliffe Media is part of, has sold memorial site Lasting Tribute to iAnnounce, which will now provide family announcements for the ‘Thisis’ network of regional websites.

But the move has led to around five people who worked for Lasting Tribute, which was launched in 2007, being made redundant.

The iAnnounce platform is Europe’s leading platform for family announcements and now works with all the UK’s major regional publishers including Archant, Johnston Press, Newsquest and Trinity Mirror.

A statement from the company said with the integration of Northcliffe’s notices, the iAnnounce database will hold over three million individual family notices from all over the UK.

A&N Media will take a minority stake in the newly-enlarged iAnnounce business.

Mike Rowley, Managing Director at Northcliffe Digital, said: “Northcliffe Media is looking forward to working with iAnnounce to continue to offer a credible and user friendly platform for all its announcements, which continues to be an important reader service in the newspapers and on our websites.”

iAnnounce was founded by Alex Stitt in 2006 to help newspaper publishers make a commercial success of sharing family news online.

Mr Stitt said: “We are thrilled to be providing the online family announcements platform for Northcliffe Digital and to now be nearing complete market coverage in the UK.

“This deal allows us to invest in further developments of our platform and build an even brighter future for family notices online.”

Comments

Mourner (27/07/2010 10:00:43)
RIP
Perhaps Northcliffe should have positioned to become the market leader in this field instead of buying in the service from elsewhere.
My best wishes to all the staff for the future. Some very good people who won’t be out of work for long, I am sure.

Subbed Out (27/07/2010 12:31:37)
I’ve always found Lasting Tribute to be a bit mawkish. Nothing wrong with making a tribute to someone at the time of their death. That’s perfectly natural. But to keep those tributes floating around in cyberspace forever, with people adding bits and bobs whenever they like, seems to make an entertainment out of genuine grief and loss. Then again, perhaps it helps keep someone’s dearly beloved in their life.

Lurker (27/07/2010 15:33:25)
The new one is not as good as LT. May be me, but I can’t just see today’s notices, I have to look at 189 of ’em !?!